A/N: I just thought that I would inform everyone that after this chapter, there are only SIX chapters left to this story. The number has changed a bit today, but this is the final number. Which means that everyone really needs to participate in the poll letting me know if they want a sequel or not. If not enough people answer yes in the poll, I will not write it. I am going to be in university this year, so my time will be limited. This is why I am only doing it if there is enough interest. I cannot stress this enough. I can see how many are reading this story and how many have alerted it. If you don't want a sequel, feel free to answer no in the poll. Just please, let me know! Anyways, I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter, and reviews once they are done.
"I bought them a house, Elizabeth and Hayley," Michael said, knowing that Nikita was walking towards him. "One night Lizzy and I just started flipping through a housing catalog. Lizzy saw this house in Hawaii, and her eyes just lit up."
Nikita stopped next to Michael, not saying a word.
"So I tore out the page, and without telling her, I started saving up," he continued. "Before you knew it, I had enough money for the down payment. When I called the realtor and he said the place was still available, I nearly jumped out of my chair."
He stopped for a moment; as if he was contemplating whether or not to continue… then he started speaking again.
"My plan was to fly them there for vacation, and tell them that that house was a rental," he said, almost choking on his words. "And I know on the last day of vacation, Hayley would just… look up at me and tell me it's time to go home. But I would look back down at her, and I'd tell her, 'we are home'. Percy took that away from me. He made me into this. I'm going to go into his office… and I'm going to shoot him."
"If Percy goes down," Nikita said suddenly. "This country will never recover. Do you remember telling me that?"
"I don't care," Michael insisted.
"I don't believe you, because you're stronger than that," Nikita said, looking at him. "You're the strongest person I've ever met. You… do the things that other people won't do. You sacrifice and you dedicate your life, to people you know are innocent. I don't think you're capable of not caring."
Nikita walked a couple of steps to stand in front of Michael before continuing.
"We will find the rest of the black boxes, and then we will kill Percy. And he will not be able to do this to anyone ever again," she said.
"I lied to you," Michael said all of a sudden. "I didn't get the locations. I was coming here to… double-cross you."
There was a long minute of complete silence, then "Well… you didn't". After that was said, Nikita just calmly walked away, leaving Michael standing in the snow.
"Did you think about what we discussed?" Percy asked Michael seriously.
"Yes," was the only response.
"And?" Percy prompted.
"I'm with you one hundred percent," Michael said, looking Percy directly in the eyes.
A few days later…
"So, is she working with you?" Michael asked Nikita.
"Who?" Nikita asked.
"Imogen," Michael answered.
"Oh. No, but she has contacted me," Nikita confessed.
"Why did she leave?" he asked.
"She was in Division?" Nikita said confused. "I didn't know that part."
"Yes, she was," Michael said. "She was very good too, well, with computers for the most part."
"Like Birkhoff?" Nikita said, smiling.
"Like Birkhoff," Michael confirmed.
"Well, I have no idea why she might have left Division," Nikita said. "No… Actually, when I saw her during the time that Alex was being interrogated… she seemed extremely interested in this photo that she shoved in my face."
"Do you have this photo?" Michael asked.
"No, she took it back," Nikita said. "But I can tell you who was in it."
"Who?" Michael asked.
"Someone we both know," Nikita said.
Over the past week, mission after mission kept failing. Percy was getting furious; he had no idea how she was doing this. At first he had assumed that it was Nikita, but then after his men (and women) kept coming back with injuries… he rethought it. Each and every single one of them had the same injury; and no one had seen their attacker.
He put everyone available on this task, including Birkhoff, Michael, Alex, and Amanda. No one was coming up with anything; only more attacks. It seemed like this person, whoever it was, was also targeting Gogol. The one thing that Percy was reluctant to do, and thus refused to do it, was ask for Gogol's help in catching this… freedom fighter.
"It's like catching smoke sir," Alex said. "There is no trace left at any of the sites… nothing."
"Has no one found anything?" Percy asked furiously.
"Nothing," Michael said.
"Amanda?" he asked.
"No, nothing," Amanda shook her head.
Everyone he had assigned to this project was inside Operations. Including Birkhoff, who was typing on one of the computers doing who knows what. Suddenly all of the computer screens changed to a black screen. Words started to appear on the screen…
Division…
Gogol…
You've been warned.
After the last words appeared, it was only a couple seconds until an image was splashed across the screen. Percy and the rest of them looked closer and found that the image was of a ghost… a cartoon like one, but it was nevertheless a ghost.
Imogen lay back in her chair in the middle of her apartment. Over the last week, ever since Nikita had told her about the men in the photograph she had just lost it. She felt like she was losing her touch because, though she had been trying to find out who or what the connection was, nothing was working.
It was like her mind had gone AWOL and there was nothing that she could do about it. Luckily she managed to make herself as invisible as possible so that no one could find her unless she wanted them to.
Speaking of that, Imogen was starting to think that Nikita might have pointed her in the wrong direction with that photograph. If she was not able to wrap her head around it soon… well, she would just have one more person to harass.
Michael, though he had told Percy that he had no idea who was causing these problems for Division, was not really telling him the truth and neither was he really helping in the search for the person. In fact, what he wanted to do was find the person himself and recruit them to work with himself and Nikita. The downside? It was highly unlikely that they would agree to something like that, and since they seemed to be a loose cannon (despite their amazing ability to stay concealed)… well Michael was hesitant about it. He hadn't mention his idea to Nikita and probably never would if he wasn't all for it.
Shaking his head Michael made his way out of Division and got into his car, and started to drive towards Nikita's place. ON his way there he thought that he saw a familiar head of shockingly blond hair staring at him through a high window, but the next time that he looked it was gone.
"So much for not going crazy," he muttered.
Birkhoff was in his apartment, sitting on the floor and staring out the window; watching the rain come down in buckets. At Division that day there was a message on the computers, something that he was unable to prevent from happening. At first he had no idea what was going on, but as soon as he saw the imprint of the ghost on the screen his mind snapped back to Imogen.
She had obviously gotten some leads, but what shocked him was where they were leading her. No one at Division knew who she was when they recruited her, and they still didn't. So how could they have been involved?
He was reminded of Nikita and what he told her about trying to take down Division all those months ago…
"Congratulations Birkhoff, you found me," Nikita said, and then she picked up a needle and a vial of clear liquid.
"What is that?" he asked. "Truth serum?"
"It's pain desensitizer," Nikita said, inserting the needle into the vial. "I don't want you passing out on me."
"So, what, you going to torture me? Is that it?" he asked angrily.
"Not if you tell me what I need to know," she informed him calmly.
"Well, I always told you, you were hot," he said smugly. "You know that."
"I want access to Division's network," she said, interrupting him. "Log ins… passwords."
"Bitch, just skip to the part where you kill me," he spat.
"No," she said, and then whacked him across the head with a pistol.
"Seriously, do it!" he said. "Because if I give you those codes, Percy will kill me!"
"Shut up!" she said, pressing the gun against the side of his head.
"What do you want with the network anyways?" he asked, once Nikita had lowered the gun. "It's not like it was any help to us finding where you've been hiding out."
"I'm not hiding anymore," she said shortly.
"Then what are you doing? You're not trying to come at us are you?" he asked incredulously. "Man, Nikki… Nikki, you're insane!"
"Don't call me Nikki," she snapped.
"Then don't call me Nerd," he countered. "Remember you used to call me that? Patch me through to Michael, Nerd. This computer's busted, fix it, nerd. Place ain't the same without you, babe."
"Then let's burn it down," she suggested in a deadly tone.
"You seriously think you can burn down Division all on your own?" he said.
"Who says I'm on my own?" she asked.
"So you playing for the other side now?" he said. "Well, if you got such big guns on your side backing you up, what do you need me for?"
"Well, because they may be able to get me the Intel I need, but I know you can get it," she answered.
"Well then, we're right back where we started. Just understand," he said. "If you do this, you're going to have to kill your way through a whole lot of people you know, starting with me. Nikki."
If Imogen was trying to do the same thing… well then, Birkhoff was really worried about her. They had found Nikita's mole and killed him; Birkhoff knew that at some point, whether it was tomorrow, in a week, or in a few months… Percy would somehow find a way to track her down and put her through a whole world of pain before finally killing her.
She had given him strict instructions not to impede Division's progress as it would start to draw negative attention towards him, but Birkhoff was not sure if he could do it anymore. He life was going to be at stake, and as much as he valued his safety… His mind was just scrambled; he didn't know what he wanted to do.
Imogen was beyond angry. She still could not put together the whole picture, and thinking about these disgusting people all of the time was beginning to make her feel sick to her stomach. She collapsed on the floor of her bedroom, close to tears.
"I just want it to stop," she cried out. "Dad, why is this happening? I just want a normal life and something you did has ruined that!"
Deep down she didn't really believe that it was her father's fault that all of this had happened… but she needed someone to blame it on. Blaming it on the people who destroyed her family was satisfying, but she just knew that… well without the link she wasn't going to close that door any time soon. So, much like mother, she turned her anger towards her Dad even though she knew that he didn't hear it, nor did her deserve it.
"Fuck it all," she said, throwing a pillow at the wall. "I cannot stand this! GAH!"
She was freaking out, sure, but for some reason there was a little voice in the back of her mind that was telling her that something was wrong and she was blowing it all out of proportion. Shaking that voice away, she didn't want to think about something messing up her plans, she decided that maybe it was time… Maybe it was time for her to go back to the house where her family had last been together. She could make it there in about a day, but would probably have to either stay there or drive the entire night on her way back here.
"Doesn't matter," she told herself. "I need answers. This time… I think that I know where to find them."
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